Post date: May 23, 2017 9:25:21 AM
On a surprisingly sunny day at Beaford, the toss was finally won by skipper Jutson... but only because he sent someone else out to do it. It was Bomber who called correctly and with no hesitation put them in to bat first. After a difficult start to the season, it was a game which the 2s needed to win, but with Hatherleigh seconds not having a game, it was a strong opposition.
The usual opening pair of Jutson (3-30) and Shaw (0-27) bowled well with Jutson picking up the early wicket. The Hatherleigh batsmen then began to frustrate the Briddy bowlers, with lots of play and misses and missed timed shots. This wasn't at all helped by no less then 8 catches being spilled (maybe some club fielding practice is in order...). Finally, Dave Jopling (3-41) got the deserved breakthrough, removing the dangerous Forgham for 77 in the 36th over with the score on 164. This was quickly followed by the wicket of N Leahy for 73. The squeeze was then put on and wickets started to fall, all the bowlers bowled well, with Ebby (1-6) picking up a wicket towards the end. Hatherleigh still managed a tough total of 205-7 from their 45 overs.
After a lovely tea, Bridestowe went out to bat, understandably nervous after last week's dodgy performance. The new opening partnership of Neilo (101) and Tim (39) turned out to be a great one, even Neilo seemed surprised at how frequently he was finding the boundary, whilst Tim was using his experience to rotate the strike brilliantly. Drinks were taken just after Neilo brought up a well-deserved hundred, with the score on 142-0. With only sixty runs needed from more than twenty overs, the game was all-but won for BCC by then. The drinks break was the undoing of Neilo however, as he fell in the first over after drinks to R Quick (1-29) who was the pick of the Hatherleigh bowlers. With the dangerman out, R Quick and M Quick (1-36) started to slow the run rate and this bought about a little wobble in the batting. After Tim and Barkwell (17) were out, batsmen began to come and go, bringing fears off a classic BCC collapse. Strawbridge (2-29) and Leahy (2-42) both picked up a couple of wickets. Buzz had other ideas though and steadied the ship with assured 15no to steer us home, BCC finishing on 208-6, with 8 overs remaining. So it was a much better performance from the 2s this week, and it was great to see Neilo back to smashing the ball to all parts. However, there's still plenty that can be improved as the 2s look to climb up the table.